Northern Ireland Screen's Digital Film Archive is a free public access resource for teachers, students, historians and anyone who has an interest in moving images. Spanning from 1897 to the present day, the films in the Digital Film Archive cover all aspects of life in Northern Ireland and includes everything from dramas to documentaries, newsreels and features, animation to amateur footage.
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The Haunted School
School boy antics take a supernatural turn in this silent slapstick ghost story made by pupils in a Belfast boarding school.
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Overview
Do you believe in ghosts? After the Junior House Rugby match things seem to take a supernatural turn in this slapstick student film. The red brick Campbell College emerges beneath a mist of scratches creating the ideal setting for this slow paced ghostly tale. Vanishing boys and ghostly apparitions encourage you to wonder what else lurks in these Victorian corridors.
At the time of this film Campbell College was primarily a boarding school however the number of boarders has steadily declined over the years. This prestigious school has had an interesting history since it was founded in 1894 from a bequest by Henry James Campbell. The school was caught up in an IRA gun battle in 1935 and during World War II the pupils temporarily relocated to Portrush when the school was requisitioned by the War Office to become a hospital. Many of the “Old Campbellions” who passed through its gates went on to become journalists, film makers, judges and peace activists. C.S. Lewis grew up nearby and briefly studied here before he was sent to a school that specialised in pupils with lung problems.
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